Method and apparatus for searching and downloading related contents by terminal through broadcast service

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for receiving information regarding content related to particular content interested by a user and downloading the related contents in a terminal are disclosed. The method for receiving content related to a particular content, includes: transmitting a content request message including a content identifier of a particular content to a server; receiving a content response message including information regarding content related to the content identifier from the server, wherein if there are at least one or more contents related to a global content identifier, the global state code has a value indicating success; checking whether there exists second information in guide information referred to by the first information on the related contents; receiving the second information if there is not the second information; and initiating a service request procedure by using the referred reception information.

CROSS-REFERENCE

The present disclosure claims priority benefit to the followingapplications, which contents are all incorporated by reference herein:U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 61/180,923 (filed May 25, 2009),61/185,177 (filed Jun. 8, 2009), 61/240,288 (filed Sep. 7, 2009),61/263,821 (filed Nov. 23, 2009), and Korean Patent Application Nos.10-2009-0116117 (filed Nov. 27, 2009), 10-2010-0020517 (filed Mar. 8,2010).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for searchingand downloading content in a terminal and, more particularly, to amethod and apparatus for searching and downloading content related toparticular content through a broadcast service received by the terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

These days, in general, a terminal such as a mobile communicationterminal or the like provides a supplementary service such as receivingand outputting video in addition to its general function such as radiocommunication. When the terminal receives content such as video, it canuse a point-to-point method like a communication function. However, thepoint-to-point method may apply an excessive load to a mobilecommunication network in terms of mobile communication having a limitedbandwidth. Thus, a method for providing content or the like to theterminal by using a broadcast service has been introduced.

When the terminal receives content through a broadcast service, it cansubscribe to a service providing also a video on demand (VOD) withrespect to the content. When the terminal subscribes to the service, aservice provider of the broadcast service provides VOD informationregarding the content currently viewed by the user of the terminalthrough a service guide with respect to the content. However, even whenthe user subscribes to the service, the service guide does not provideVOD information of different contents (e.g., a different episode of a TVshow viewed by the user) related to the content currently viewed by theuser. In addition, when the terminal has not subscribed to the serviceproviding the VOD in addition, the service guide does not provide eventhe VOD information is regarding the content currently viewed.

Thus, when the user of the terminal wants to purchase the contentcurrently viewed or the content related to the content currently viewedas VOD, the terminal must request a general service guide includinginformation regarding all the content and services from the serviceprovider, search for his desired content from the service guide, andthen again request the desired content from the service provider. Also,when the terminal stores the general service guide, the general servicemay be limited to be stored due to a limited memory capacity of theterminal.

Also, when the user of the terminal wants to purchase the entirety ofdifferent episodes of a miniseries to which the content currently viewedbelongs, the service guide does not provide VOD information regardingthe entire episodes. Thus, the user must request purchasing the episodesone by one, separately.

Also, service guide fragments required to obtain information regardingthe service guide are transmitted to the user via a broadcast channel oran interactive channel, they are likely to be lost during thetransmission. In addition, even a service guide fragment which has beenalready transmitted may be erased before its use is completed due to alimited memory capacity of the terminal.

Also, when the relationship between respective content is not clarifiedin the service guide, the user or the terminal cannot know therelationship of the content, and only broadcast servers know therelationship.

In addition, in order to check whether or not service guide fragments ofthe content related to content designated by the user are stored in theterminal, the user or the terminal must check every service guidefragment stored in the terminal one by one.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, in order to address the above matters, the various featuresdescribed herein have been conceived. An object of the present inventionis to simplify the process of searching and downloading content viewedby a user and different content related to the content viewed by theuser. By achieving the object, the amount of network communication databetween the terminal and a broadcast server can be minimized, and awaste of resource of the terminal and the network can be prevented.Also, the use of a service by the user can be induced through asimplified process.

Another object of the present invention is to prevent a waste of memoryresources of a terminal by providing only a service guide with respectto related contents to the terminal.

Still another object of the present invention is to simplify a user'spurchase procedure by providing a method for purchasing the entirerelated contents, and allow a service provider to set various pricepolicies compared with purchasing individual content.

Yet another object of the present invention is to allow a server sidesuch as a broadcast server or the like, rather than a terminal having alimited computing power and storage capacity, to perform more operationsto enhance the speed of an overall operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method forchecking whether or not a related service in which a user may have aninterest with respect to particular content designated by the user andservice guide fragments, among service guide fragments which have beenreceived by the terminal via a broadcast is channel and an interactivechannel from a broadcast server, are stored in the terminal, andreceiving service guide fragments, which do not exist upon checking, viathe interactive channel. The broadcast channel may refer to a channelreceived by using a service guide delivery descriptor defined in OMABOAST 1.0 and a service guide delivery unit.

To achieve the above objects, there is provided a method for receivingcontent related to a particular content, including: transmitting acontent request message including a content identifier of a particularcontent to a server; receiving a content response message includingfirst information on at least one or more contents related to thecontent identifier from the server, wherein if there are at least one ormore contents related to a global content identifier, the global statecode has a value indicating success; checking whether there existssecond information in guide information referred to by the firstinformation on the related contents; receiving the second information ifthere is not the second information; and initiating a service requestprocedure by using the guide information. If the value of the globalstate code indicates success, the receiving of second information andthe initiating of the service request procedure may be performed

The content request message may be a related contents request message.

The content response message may be a related contents response message.

The guide information may be service guide information, and the firstinformation on the related contents may be a provisioning service guidefragment with respect to the related contents.

The service guide fragment may provide an on-demand service of each ofthe related contents or an on-demand service of a bundled content of therelated is contents.

The provisioning service guide fragment may include one or more purchaseitem fragment, purchase channel fragment and purchase data fragment.

The second information may be a service fragment or a content fragmentreferred to by the purchase item fragment but not stored in theterminal.

The service fragment or the content fragment referred to by the purchaseitem fragment may be a service or content fragment matched to each of aservice reference, a content reference and an identifier reference(idRef) in the purchase item fragment.

To achieve the above objects, there is also provided a terminal forreceiving content related to particular content, including: atransceiver configured to communicate with a server; and a controllerconfigured to control the transceiver. The transceiver transmits acontent request message including a content identifier of particularcontent to the server, receives a content response message includingfirst information on content related to the content identifier from theserver. If there are at least one or more contents related to a globalcontent identifier, the global state code has a value indicating success

The controller may check whether there exists second information inguide information referred to by the first information on the relatedcontents.

The transceiver further may receive the second information if there isnot the second information, and initiate a service request procedure byusing the guide information.

If there are at least one or more contents related to a global contentidentifier, the global state code may have a value indicating success.If the value of the global state code indicates success, the receivingof second information and is the initiating of the service requestprocedure may be performed.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a serviceguide with respect to content related to a particular content isprovided to a terminal. Thus, the process of searching for contentviewed by the user through the terminal and different content related tothe content is simplified, and the usage of memory resources of theterminal can be optimized.

Also, by providing a method for purchasing individual related content ofthe entire related contents, the user purchase procedure is simplified,and various price policies can be set compared to the case where a usehas to purchase each individual content separately.

In addition, the present invention performs most of computationaloperations in a server side such as a broadcast server or the likerather than in the terminal with a limited computing power and storagecapacity, thus enhancing the performance of overall operations.

The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the present invention when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a system for searching anddownloading content according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the configuration of a service guide according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the service guide according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in a system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the relationship of fragments in the service guideaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in the system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in the system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in the system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of an inquiry ofrelated contents using a related contents request message and a relatedcontents response message;

FIG. 10 illustrates the method of receiving a service guide by theterminal from the server according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 11 is a signal flow chart illustrating in detail a procedure ofreceiving a service guide in the system according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present to invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is applied to a method and apparatus for searchingand downloading related contents through a broadcast service in a mobileterminal. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and maybe applicable to any communication system and method to which thetechnical idea of the present invention is applicable.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein have the same meaning ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which thisinvention pertains, and should not be interpreted as having anexcessively comprehensive meaning nor as having an excessivelycontracted meaning. If technical terms used herein is erroneous thatfails to accurately express the technical idea of the present invention,it should be replaced with technical terms that allow the person in theart to properly understand. The general terms used herein should beinterpreted according to the definitions in the dictionary or in thecontext and should not be interpreted as an excessively contractedmeaning.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”“comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specifythe presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/orgroups thereof.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another. For example, a first element could be termed asecond element, and, similarly, a is second element could be termed afirst element, without departing from the scope of the presentinvention.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“connected with” another element, it can be directly connected with theother element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast,when an element is referred to as being “directly connected with”another element, there are no intervening elements present.

The term ‘purchase’ used in the present invention includes a paid-inpurchase and a free purchase. In particular, in case of the freepurchase, it refers to simple downloading content or a service withoutrequesting a particular user authentication, payment for something, anapproval process, and the like.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like numbers referto like elements throughout. In describing the present invention, if adetailed explanation for a related known function or construction isconsidered to unnecessarily divert the gist of the present invention,such explanation has been omitted but would be understood by thoseskilled in the art. The accompanying drawings of the present inventionaim to facilitate understanding of the present invention and should notbe construed as limited to the accompanying drawings. The technical ideaof the present invention should be interpreted to embrace all to suchalterations, modifications, and variations in addition to theaccompanying drawings.

The terms used in the following description of the present inventionwill now be explained before describing the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention.

Broadcast distribution system (BDS): A system having a function oftransmitting the same IP flow to a plurality of terminals.

Broadcast service: A service for simultaneously distributing content tomultiple reception terminals without having to know who is the receptionterminals. The broadcast service includes, for example, a mobile TV, amobile newspaper, mobile file downloading (game, software upgrade).

Broadcast channel: A logical channel providing broadcast transmission. Abroadcast enabler uses the channel in order to distribute data toterminals in a broadcasting manner.

In general, the broadcast channel is a unidirectional channel, supportsa high transfer rate, and is used for a downlink transmission. Thebroadcast channel is useful to transmit information to every terminal ora plurality of terminals as targets.

Service guide: Description information regarding a broadcast servicethat can be used by a subscriber or a terminal. A terminal firstreceives a service guide, receives an actual broadcast stream based oninternal information of the service guide, and interprets it.

Interactive channel or interaction channel: A logical channel via whicha mobile terminal interact with a broadcast service throughpoint-to-point communication. The interactive channel may use HTTP(S) ofupper TCP/IP.

Broadcast distribution system (BDS): It refers to a system having thecapacity of simultaneously transmitting the same IP flow to severalterminals. Generally, the BDS utilizes a technique for effectively usingradio resources. The BDS includes a broadcast/multicast network functionat a lower end of an IP layer and a service distribution/applicationfunction at an upper end of a supplementary IP layer.

Series: It's a set of various contents which are connected in theircontent like a soap opera or miniseries or has the same theme.

Episode: It indicates a single content in a series.

Relation: The expression of ‘one content and other content are related’means that the two contents are similar in their substance or subjectmatter. Also, the relation between the different contents may bedetermined by the service provider.

Related contents inquiry: Related contents inquiry allows a serviceprovider to offer a recommendation to a user according to a userpreference (or user interest).

Hereinafter, a terminal is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, butthe terminal may be also called by other names such as user equipment(UE), mobile equipment (ME), or mobile station (MS). Also, the terminalmay be a portable device having a communication function such as amobile phone, a PDA, a smart phone, a notebook computer, and the like,or may be a portability-unavailable device such as a personal computer(PC), a vehicle-mounted device.

FIG. 1 illustrates the configuration of a system for searching anddownloading content according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

As noted with reference to FIG. 1, a system for searching anddownloading content according to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention may be based on a BOAST (broadcast) architecture.

A terminal 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, a user equipment (UE), receivesinformation related to a broadcast service such as broadcast content, aservice guide, and content protection information. The terminal 100 maysupport an interactive channel.

The contents searching and downloading system includes a BOAST serviceapplication (BSA) 210, a BOAST service distribution/adaptation (BSD/A)220, a B CAST subscription management (BSM) 230, a BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240, a content creator (or contentprovider) 400, and a content server 500.

The BSA 210 is an entity corresponding to an application unit of abroadcast service such as audio/video streaming or movie filedownloading. The BSA 210 receives broadcast data from the contentscreator 400 encodes the received broadcast data into a form suitable forbroadcasting, and supplies a BOAST service attribute to the BSD/A 220and the BSM 230. Also, the BSA 210 may manage charging information (orbilling information).

The BSD/A 220 is an entity handling a coupling of a BOAST service and acoupling of a BDS. The BSD/A 220 performs the function of distributionof a file/stream, service combining, protection of a service/content,generating and transferring a service guide, and a notification (orannouncement) message transfer function.

The BSM 230 is an entity of performing service provisioning such assubscription and payment, transferring information required forreceiving the BOAST service, and managing the terminal 100. The BSM 230supports a notification message, a service protection management, acontents protection management, a service guide generation and aterminal provisioning function, and interacts with the BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240 to manage communication with theterminal 100 and subscription information. Also, The BSM 230 maytransfer user payment information to the BSA 210.

The BDS service distribution/adaptation unit 240 is an entity ofdelivering a broadcast service including a file/stream distribution anda service guide distribution to the BDS. Also, the BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240 may further perform a function of anencryption/decryption key distribution, a broadcast subscriptionmanagement, an account management. The BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240 is connected with an interactivenetwork 320 to process a service discovery, a protection of a servicelimited to BDS, and other interactive function. Also, the BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240 is connected with a broadcast network310 in order to deliver content to the terminal 100.

Meanwhile, the illustrated broadcast network 310 provides a function ofdelivering content by using a broadcast channel. The broadcast network310 may accompany a radio network which is the same as or different froma network used in the interactive channel.

The illustrated interactive network 320 provides an interactive channel.The interactive network 320 may accompany a radio network which is thesame or different from the network used in the broadcast channel.

The content creation 400 is an entity providing content to the BS. Forexample, the content may be data such as movie, record (or album), newstext, to and the like. The content creation 400 may provide a deliveryparadigm (e.g., a streaming server) or provide basic data for explainingcontent.

The content server 500 is an entity of providing content to the terminal100. The content server 500 may be the same entity as the contentcreation 400.

The interface between the foregoing elements will now be described.

A BOAST-1 interface is used to deliver content, a content attribute, anda notification message. A BOAST-2 is used to deliver a BOAST serviceattribute and a content attribute belonging to a program such as acontent-nonprotected BOAST service, explanation, and genre. A BOAST-3interface is used to deliver a BOAST service attribute and a contentattribute belonging to service provision such as a user profile andlocation information. A BOAST-4 interface is used to deliver anotification message, a service guide, a fragment (related to provision,purchase and subscription), long term key messages, short term keymessages, a terminal providing object, a terminal providing message, anda terminal management message. A BOAST-5 provides a nonprotected and/orprotected BOAST service, a content-nonprotection and/orcontent-protection BOAST service, a BOAST service attribute and contentattribution notification, a distribution of a service guide and asecurity material, in the broadcast distribution system. Thedistribution may include traversing of the BSD servicedistribution/adaptation unit. A BCAST-6 interface provides anonprotected and/or protected BOAST service in the broadcastdistribution system, a content-nonprotection and/or content-protectionBOAST service, a BOAST service attribute and content attributionnotification, a service guide, and a terminal report related to asecurity material, stream, and file delivery, in the interactivenetwork. A BOAST-7 interface provides service provisioning, subscriptioninformation, terminal provisioning, a security material, and deviceregistration in the interactive network. A BOAST-8 interface is used fora user interactive, report, and user preference.

A BDS-1 interface is used to transfer a nonprotected or protected BOASTservice, a content nonprotected BOAST service, a BOAST service attributeand content attribute, a BOAST service/content, a notification message,a notification priority, a service guide, and the like. A BDS-2interface is used to delivery service provision, subscriptioninformation, device management, and information regarding a securitymaterial.

An X-1 interface is an interface between the BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240 and the BDS. An X-2 interface is aninterface between the BDS service distribution/adaptation unit 240 andthe interactive network 320. An X-3 interface is an interface betweenthe BDS and the terminal 100. An X-4 interface is an interface betweenthe BDS service distribution/adaptation unit 240 and the terminal 100.An X-5 interface is an interface between the BDS servicedistribution/adaptation unit 240 and the terminal 100 through aninteractive channel. An X-6 interface is an interface between theinteractive network 320 and the terminal 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates the configuration of a service guide according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the service guide according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention may be based on a BOAST 1.0definition.

The service guide includes an administrative part, a provisioning part,a core part, an access part, and others.

The administrative part includes a ServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptorelement. The ServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor is transmitted via a serviceguide announcement channel, and allows the terminal 100 to know aboutwhether or not fragments of a service guide exist, metadata, andgrouping through a service guide discovery process. The other remainingservice guide fragments, except for the administrative part may bedelivered via a file delivery session of a broadcast channel or aninteractive channel.

The core part includes a service fragment, a schedule fragment, and acontent fragment.

The access part includes an access fragment and a session descriptionfragment.

The provisioning part includes a purchase item fragment, a purchase datafragment, and a purchase channel fragment.

The service guide includes a preview data fragment, an interactivitydata fragment, besides the above-mentioned parts.

Hereinbelow, the semantic of each fragment will now be described.

The service fragment describes a coupling relationship of content itemsconstituting a broadcast service. Also, the service fragment may includea component related to a service function such as purchase orsubscription information. The service fragment is a part of the serviceguide, serving as a central hub of other fragments.

The schedule fragment defines a time frame for a related content item tobe streamed, downloaded or rendered. The schedule fragment always refersto the service fragment or the content fragment. An OnDemand attributeof the schedule fragment indicates whether or not content referred to bythe schedule fragment is accessible via unicast channel and contenttransmission is not necessarily bounded by specific time interval.

The content fragment provides a detailed description of a particularcontent item. The content fragment deals with a target user group of thecontent, a geographical location, a genre, or content of the youthprotection. The content fragment may be referred to from the previewdata fragment or the service fragment.

The access fragment describes how a service can be accessed during itslife period. The access fragment refers to the service by using sessiondescription information or a URI, and indicates a delivery method of theservice. The service fragment may be referred to from one or more of theaccess fragments in order to access a service related to the servicefragment or provide various methods for interacting with the servicerelated to the service fragment. The access fragment providesinformation regarding the capability required by the terminal in orderto receive and render a particular service. A network address of contentreferred to by the schedule fragment can be provided in AccessServerURLattribute of the access fragment if the content are transmitted viaunicast channel and can be provided in a contentLocation attribute ofthe schedule fragment referred to by the access fragment if the contentis transmitted via multicast or broadcast channel.

The session description fragment provides session information requiredto access a particular service. Also, the session description fragmentmay further include supplementary description information to be used ina related delivery procedure. Information regarding the sessiondescription is provided via an SDP (Session Description Protocol: SeeRFC 4566) syntax or 3GPP MBMS USDB (User Service Bundle Description)[3GPP TS 26.346].

The purchase item fragment indicates a group of one or more services orone or more content items provided to an end user free of charge orthrough subscription or purchase. A service provider may include thepurchase item fragment in a service guide and deliver purchaseinformation regarding a bundle (combination) of service/content/scheduleto the user. The purchase item fragment may be referred to from thepurchase data fragments providing information regarding other servicebundles. The purchase item fragment may refer to associated service orcontent fragment.

The purchase data fragment provides price information of a service, aservice bundle, and a content item. The service provider may include thepurchase data fragment in the service guide and deliver the price ofeach purchase item to the user.

The purchase channel fragment provides information regarding an entityfor obtaining an access authority and/or usage authority about aparticular service, service bundle, and content item.

The preview data fragment includes information suitable for expressingthe outline of a service or content to the user. The user recognizeswhat kind of service or content it is through the information. Thepreview data fragment may include simple text, a static image, a shortvideo clip, and even a reference to a different service of a low bitrate related to a main service. The service fragment, the contentfragment, the purchase data fragment, the access fragment, and theschedule fragment, among the above-mentioned fragments, can refer to thepreview data fragment.

The interactivity data fragment includes information for providing aninteractive service related to a broadcast content to the user throughthe terminal. The interactive service allows, for example, the user tovote while viewing a TV show or obtain content related to broadcastcontent currently being viewed. The interactivity data refers to one ormore interactivity media documents. The interactivity media documentincludes an xhtml page, a static image, an e-mail template, an SMS(Short Message Service) template, and an MMS (Multimedia MessageService) template document. The interactivity data fragment may refer toa service fragment, a content fragment, a schedule fragment. Theschedule is fragment may refer to the interactivity data fragment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the service guide according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, a service fragment providing a music TV channel is referredto by five content fragments. The content fragments include a detaileddescription of Music Top 20, Music News, Music Video 1, Music Video 2,and Music Video 3.

Also, the service fragment is referred to by five schedule fragments. Afirst schedule fragment is id=“//this.example.com/schedule/551” andconnected with an access fragment providing a Music TV channel servicein the form of a broadcast stream. A second schedule fragment isid=“//this.example.com/schedule/552” and connected with an accessfragment providing Music TV channel service and Music News content byusing an interactive channel. A third schedule fragment isid=“//this.example.com/schedule/553” and connected with an accessfragment providing Music Video 1 content and Music Video 2 content ason-demand in the form of a stream. A fourth schedule fragment isid=“//this.example.com/schedule/554” and connected with an accessfragment providing Music Video 2 content as on-demand in a downloadform. A fifth schedule fragment is id=“//this.example.com/schedule/555”and connected with an access fragment providing Music Video 3 content ason-demand in a download form.

The service guide additionally includes a purchase item fragment(id=“//this.example.com/pitem/151”) for supporting purchase of contentconnected with the schedule fragment ofid=“//this.example.com/schedule/551”, and a purchase item fragment(id=“//this.example.com/pitem/152”) for supporting simultaneouspurchasing of contents connected with the schedule fragments ofid=“//this.example.com/schedule/552” andid=“//this.example.com/schedule/553”.

Hereinafter, a processing procedure of the system according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described.

FIG. 4 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in a system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the procedure includes: a step(S100) of requesting a related content, a step (S110) of searchingrelated contents and generating information, a step (S120) oftransmitting related contents in response, a step (S130) of deliveringservice information and attribute, a step (S140) of generating a serviceguide, a step (S150) of delivering the service guide, a step (S160) ofselecting content, a step (S170) of requesting a service, a step (S175)of delivering a service response, a step (S180) of storing SEK (ServiceEncryption Key) and PEK (Program Encryption Key), a step (S190) ofrequesting content, and a step (S195) of delivering content. Each stepwill now be described hereinafter.

Here, unlike the case as illustrated in FIG. 4, the step (S120) oftransmitting related contents in response and the steps (S130 and S140)of delivering service information and attribute and generating a serviceguide may be performed in reverse order or simultaneously performed.

First, the step (S100) of requesting related contents will now bedescribed.

The user selects a particular content he is interested in. Theparticular content may be content being viewed by the user via theterminal 100. The terminal includes a service guide with respect to theparticular content.

The terminal 100 allows the user to purchase contents related to thecontent according to a user request (or user command). Namely, in orderto request the related contents service, the terminal 100 creates arelated contents is request message. The related contents requestmessage is to receive purchase information regarding each individualcontent related to the particular content the user is interested in andthe entire related contents, for example, a complete season ofparticular TV show.

Namely, in order to receive the purchase information regarding eachindividual content related to the particular content the user isinterested in and the entire related contents, for example, a completeseason of particular TV show, the terminal 100 creates a relatedcontents request message. The service guide fragment describes contentrelated to the particular content the user is interested in. Informationin which the related contents request message may be included will bedescribed hereinbelow.

Information of Related Contents Request Message

The related contents request message may include a globalContentID, aglobal content identifier of the particular content, a userID, a useridentifier known to the BSM 230, a deviceID, an identifier of theterminal 100 known to the BSM 230, and an msgID, a message identifier.The userID may have a value such as IMSI, URI, IMPI, MSISDN, MIN, andthe like. The deviceID may have a value such as IMEI, MEID, and thelike. The message may be a message requesting purchase informationregarding each individual content related to the global contentidentifier or the entirety of the related contents (namely, a seriesbundle).

Meanwhile, when the particular content is one of a plurality of episodesof a particular series, the related contents request message may includea seriesID, an identifier of the series, an episodeID, an identifier ofthe episode of the series, a userID, a user identifier, a deviceID, thedevice identifier, and an msgID, a message identifier. In this case, themessage may be a message requesting is purchase information regardingcontent identified by the seriesID and the episodeID. Also, the messagemay be a message requesting purchase information regarding theidentified content, each individual content related to the identifiedcontent, and the entire related contents. Also, when the episodeID is anempty value, the message may be a message requesting purchaseinformation regarding each individual episode of the series or theentire episodes.

The terminal 100 transmits the related contents request message asdescribed above to the BSM 230.

The step (S110) of searching the related contents and generatinginformation will now be described.

When the BSM 230 receives the related contents request message, itchecks whether or not the message corresponds with a schema.

Preferably, if the message does not correspond with the schema, the BSM230 may return a transport protocol level error to the terminal andterminate the procedure.

The BSM 230 searches related contents according to the received relatedcontents request message and generates information regarding the relatedcontents. The information includes information required for creating arelated contents response message that corresponds to the relatedcontents request message. A list of the information and its generationmethod will now be described.

Information Regarding Related Contents

1) refToMsgID

The refToMsgID is an msgID of the related contents request message thatcorresponds to the related contents response message. Thus, therefToMsgID is created by copying the msgID of the received relatedcontents request message.

2) PurchaseItem, PurchaseData, and PurchaseChannel Fragments withRespect to Content

The fragment indicates purchase information regarding each of contentsrelated to the particular content. The BSM 230 determines the relatedcontents through identifiers included in the related contents responsemessage. The example of determining methods according to types of theidentifiers is shown in Table below:

TABLE 1 Included identifier Method for determining related contentsGlobalContentID It's for content related to content indicated by globalcontent identifier. Namely, a content fragment including the globalcontent identifier is searched, and a related content is searched usingthe content fragment. ‘Content related to the content identified by theglobal content identifier’ refers to content related to the contentindicated by the global content identifier. SeriesID and episode ID Theyare for content to which single content identified by a seriesidentifier and an episode identifier is related. Namely, a contentfragment including the series identifier and the episode identifier issearched, and it is the content to which content indicated by thecontent fragment is related. Alternatively, they are for the singlecontent and content to which the single content is related. Namely, acontent fragment including an identifier of the single content issearched, and then a related content is searched through the contentfragment. SeriesID It's for contents of any episodes of a seriesidentified by a series identifier. Namely, content fragments includingthe series identifier are searched, and it's a content indicated by eachof the content fragment. GlobalContentID, Priority is given to globalcontent identifier, and can be seriesID, and episode ID processed in thesame manner as a case where only a global content identifier isincluded.

When related contents are determined through the method of Table 1, theBSM 230 searches a content fragment of the related contents. The BSM 230generates a provisioning service guide fragment with respect to each ofthe related contents through the contents fragment. The provisioningservice guide fragment includes the PurchaseItem, PurchaseData, andPurchaseChannel fragments.

Preferably, the PurchaseItem, PurchaseData, and PurchaseChannelfragments may not be generated for content which cannot be downloadedamong the related contents. In this case, whether or not content can bedownloaded may be determined through the content fragment of therelevant content.

Namely, the BSM 230 may check whether or not there is any contentrelated to the global content ID included in the request and whether ornot the related content is provided as an on-demand service. Uponchecking, when the related content exists and is provided as anon-demand service, the BSM 230 transmits a related content responsemessage.

3) PurchaseItem, PurchaseData, and PurchaseChannel fragment with respectto a series bundle.

The fragments indicate purchase information for purchasing the entirecontents related to the particular content. Thus, preferably, when onlypurchase information of single content is requested or when there isonly one content related to the particular content, the procedure withrespect to the series bundle is not performed and the PurchaseItemfragment with respect to the series bundle may be excluded from therelated contents response message.

The BSM 230 calculates a price with respect to the series bundle byusing the content fragments of the related contents searched in 2) asdescribed above, and generates the PurchaseItem, PurchaseData, andPurchaseChannel fragments with response to the series bundle. AContentReference field of the PurchaseItem fragment refers to everycontent corresponding to the series bundle.

Preferably, when the price is calculated, a price policy of a serviceprovider of the series bundle may be considered.

Preferably, content that cannot be downloaded, among the relatedcontents, may be excluded in calculating price. Also, whether or notcontent can be downloaded may be determined through the contentfragments of the related contents.

4) globalStatusCode

The globalStatusCode indicates a processing result with respect to thetransmitted related contents request message.

When the related contents response message includes proper contentpurchase information, for example, when there is content related to theglobal content identifier (GlobalContentID) of the related contentsrequest message and the related contents is provided as an on-demandservice, the value of the globalStatusCode is ‘success. A particularvalue, for example, ‘000’, may be assigned as a success code indicatingthe ‘success’.

Meanwhile, if the related contents response message does not includeproper content purchase information, for example, when the serviceprovider cannot search any related content or when an on-demand servicefor a searched related content cannot be provided, the value ofglobalStatusCode is ‘error’. A particular value, for example, ‘22’, maybe assigned as an error code indicating the ‘error’. The error codeindicates that the BSM 230 cannot provide an on-demand service of therelated content.

Additionally, the case where the related contents response message doesnot include proper content purchase information may include a case wherecontent identified by identifier(s) in the related contents requestmessage does not exist, a case where there exists identified content butthere is no content related to it, a case where there exists the relatedcontent but no content cannot be downloaded via interactive channel, andthe like.

When the terminal 100 receives the related contents response messagehaving the value of globalStatusCode as ‘error’, the procedure isterminated.

The step (S120) of transmitting the related contents in response willnow be described.

The BSM 230 creates the related contents response message correspondingto the related contents request message by using the above-describedinformation.

Basically, the related contents response message has an msgID field, amessage identifier.

When the related contents response message delivers the related contentspurchase information, the related contents response message may have aPurchaseItem field. The PurchaseItem field includes information forreceiving a service guide which includes every information of therelated contents. In this case, the PurchaseItem field is filled byusing the PurchaseItem fragment with respect to the above-describedcontent and the PurchaseItem fragment with respect to the series bundle.

Also, the related contents response message has the globalStatusCodeindicating a processing result with respect to the received relatedcontents request message.

Also, selectively, in the step (S170) of delivering the service guide,the BSD/A 220 may transmit ServiceGuideDeliveryUnit includinginformation regarding the entire service guide orServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor allowing for accessing a particularservice guide to the terminal 100 in a push manner via the interactivechannel. In this case, information corresponding to the PurchaseItemfragment may be obtained through the ServiceGuideDeliveryUnit or theServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor. Thus, in this case, the related contentsresponse message may include only msgID. The ServiceGuideDeliveryUnitand the ServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor will be described later.

The step (S130) of delivering the service information and attribute willnow be described.

In step (S130), the BSM 230 informs the BSD/A 200 that it must prepare aservice fragment in order for the BSD/A 200 to respond to a request fromthe service guide fragments from the terminal 100 (The BSM shall informthe BSD/A to prepare for the service guide fragments, so that the BSD/Acan response to request of the Service guide fragments from theterminal).

For example, the BSM 230 transmits price information and purchaseinformation related to each of the related contents and the seriesbundle to the BSD/A 220.

Preferably, the price information and the purchase information mayinclude the PurchaseItem, the PurchaseData, and the PurchaseChannelfragments.

Preferably, the PurchaseItem, the PurchaseData, and the PurchaseChannelfragments may be included in a payload object and transmitted.

The step (S140) of generating the service guide will now be described.

The BSD/A generates a service guide to be transmitted to the terminal100 by using the information transmitted in the step (S130) ofdelivering the service information and attribute. The service guide mayinclude information for downloading content.

An example of generation of the service guide is shown in Table 2 below.Table 2 describes the fragments to be generated and methods forgenerating the fragments.

TABLE 2 Fragment Generation method Service fragment for series bundle(It is ServiceType field: It has 1 (Basic TV). generated when there ispurchase validFrom, validTo fields are not information regarding seriesbundle) included because there is no time restriction to downloading.Schedule fragment for series bundle (It It indicates every contentfragment of is generated when there is purchase series bundle.information regarding series bundle) defaultSchedule: it has a truevalue Schedule fragment for each content fragment onDemand field: it hasa true value Service Reference: It has a server reference value of acontent fragment. defaultSchedule field: It is not included when thereis purchase information regarding series bundle. It has a true valuewhen there is no purchase information regarding series bundle.validFrom, validTo fields are not included because there is no timerestriction to downloading. Access fragment for each schedule fragmentAccessType field: It has a UnicastServiceDelivery value. AccessServerURLfield: It has information of a URL from which content can be downloaded

FIG. 5 illustrates the relationship of fragments in the service guideaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The step (S150) of delivering the service guide will now be described.

The terminal 100 receives the service guide from the BSD/A 220.

Preferably, when the terminal 100 supports an OMA push, a WAP push, oran SIP push, the BSD/A 220 can transmit the service guide to theterminal 100 in a push manner.

Preferably, when the related contents response message does not includethe PurchaseItem, the BSD/A 220 may transmit theServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor or the ServiceGuideDeliveryUnit withrespect to the service guide to the terminal 100. in the push manner. IfServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor is transmitted to the terminal 100, theterminal 100, using the information given from theServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor, may obtain the ServiceGuideDeliveryUnitvia interactive channel. Detailed description of this procedure isspecified in the FIG. 10 description.

The step (S160) of selecting content will now be described.

The terminal 100 displays information required for purchasing contentssuch as the price of each individual related contents, the seriesbundle, and the like. The user selects content desired to be purchasedthrough the displayed information. Purchasing of content may refer to asubscription to a particular service for the user.

The step (S170) of requesting a service will now be described.

The terminal 100 generates a service request message indicating thepurchase of particular content according to the selection, and transmitsthe message to the BSM 230.

The service request message includes information for obtaining an SEK(Service Encryption Key) and a PEK (Program Encryption Key) with respectto the content selected by the user from the BSM 230.

Preferably, the information may include msgID, an identifier of theservice request message, userID, a user identifier, a deviceID, a deviceidentifier, and PurchaseItem with respect to the selected content. Also,preferably, the PurchaseItem may include an identifier with respect tothe selected content, a monetary unit desired to be used by the user forpayment, and price.

The step (S175) of delivering a service response message will now bedescribed.

According to the received service request message, the BSM 230 generatesa service response message including the SEK and the PEK with respect tothe content selected by the user and delivers the message to theterminal 100.

Preferably, when the service request message does not correspond with aschema, the BSM 230 may return a transport protocol level error to theterminal 100 and terminate the procedure.

Preferably, the service response message may include information shownin Table 3 below:

TABLE 3 Information Meaning refToMsgID It is msgID of a service requestmessage corresponding to a service response message globalStatusCode Itindicates a status of the service response message In case of a validservice response message, it has a success value, and when there is anerror, it has an error value. The examples of the case including errorare as follows: 1) Whether or not a service is allowed for a terminaland a user has been authenticated by using devID and userID, but theauthentication fails. 2) When there is no record corresponding to devID,userID, and PurchaseItem. PurchaseItem A new field indicating thatpurchase or subscription is made in PurchaseItem record included in theservice request message is added. SEK and PEK SEK is an SEK with respectto a service. Preferably, the service may be a service identified by anidentifier of a service fragment. PEK is a PEK with respect to content.Preferably, the content may be content identified by the identifier of acontent fragment, or a program identified by an identifier of a schedulefragment.

The step (S180) of storing the SEK and PEK will now be described.

Upon receiving the service response message, the terminal 100 stores theSEK and PEK included in the message.

Preferably, the terminal checks whether or not the service responsemessage corresponds with the schema, and if the service response messagedoes not correspond with the schema, the terminal 100 may inform theuser that there is an error, and terminate the procedure.

The step (S190) of requesting content and the step (S195) of deliveringcontent will now be described.

The terminal 100 requests transmission of the content from the contentserver 500 that stores the selected content. The terminal receives therequested content from the content server 500.

Preferably, the transmission may be downloading through an HTTP(Hypertext Transfer Protocol) or streaming through an RTSP (Real TimeStreaming Protocol).

Preferably, the terminal 100 identify (discriminate, or recognize) a Webaddress with respect to the content server and the content by using anaccessServer URL field in an access fragment and a contentLocation fieldin the schedule fragment of the service guide.

FIG. 6 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in the system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

The exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 has the followingfeatures compared with the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4.That is, first, a related contents response message received by theterminal 100 includes the provisioning service guide fragments, namely,the PurchaseItem, PurchaseData, and PurchaseChannel fragments (S220).Also, in the present exemplary embodiment, the terminal 100 communicateswith the BSD/A 220 via an interactive channel. The terminal 100 requestsonly a particular portion required by the terminal 100, rather than theentire service guide, from the BSD/A 220 via the interactive channel(S254), and receives only the particular portion according to therequest (S256).

Hereinafter, the processing procedure of the system according to theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 will now be described.

First, a step (S200) of requesting related contents and a step (S210) ofsearching related contents and generating information correspond to thestep (S100) of requesting related contents and the step (S110) ofsearching related contents and generating information, respectively, inFIG. 4. The repeated description of the steps will be omitted.

Next, the step (S220) of delivering a content response includes thecontent described in the corresponding step (S120) in FIG. 4. Also, therelated contents response message in step S220 includes the provisioningservice guide fragments, namely, the PurchaseItem fragments, thePurchaseData fragments, to and the PurchaseChannel fragments, as well asthe PurchaseItem field. Each fragment is generated through acorresponding fragment generated in the step (S210) of searching relatedcontents and generating information.

The service guide fragment may provide both an on-demand service of eachindividual content and an on-demand service of bundled contents.

If the global status code has the value of success code, for example,‘000’, the service guide fragment includes one or more of thePurchaseItem fragment, PurchaseChannel fragment, and PurchaseDatafragment.

Next, a step (S230) of delivering service information and attribute anda step (S240) of generating a service guide correspond to the step(S130) of delivering service information and attribute and the step(S140) of generating a service guide, respectively. The repeateddescription of the steps will be omitted.

And then, the terminal 100 checks whether there is a service fragment orcontent fragment corresponding to the ServiceID element or ContentIDelement of the PurchaseItem field in the terminal 100. If the servicefragment or content fragment does not exist, the terminal 100 requeststransmission of the service fragment or the content fragment from theBSD/A 220 (S250) and receives the service fragment or the contentfragment from the BSD/A 220 (S252).

When the service fragment or the content fragment referred to by theServiceID element or the contentID element are furnished in the terminal100, the terminal 100 checks whether or not there is a service guidefragment referred to by the service fragment or the content fragment inthe terminal 100. If there is any service guide fragment associated withthe service fragment or the content fragment that are not stored in theterminal 100, the terminal 100 requests transmission of the serviceguide fragment from the BSD/A 220 (S254) and receives the service guidefragment from the BSD/A 220 (S256). Through the above-described stepsS250, S252, S254, and S256, the terminal 100 can obtain the serviceguide fragment or the like with respect to the content associated withthe PurchaseItem.

Thereafter, the follow-up steps S260, S270, S275, S280, S290, and S295is correspond to the steps S160, S170, S175, S180, S190, and S195described above with reference to FIG. 4, respectively. Thus, a repeateddescription of the steps will be omitted.

FIG. 7 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated in the system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

Compared with the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7 has a feature that a step(S340) of generating a service guide is performed before a step (S352)of delivering a related contents response. This is because the relatedcontents response message includes information regarding the serviceguide.

Preferably, the related contents response message may includeServiceGuideDeliveryUnit including the service guide.

Or, preferably, the related contents response message may includeServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor allowing the terminal 100 to receive aparticular service guide via an interactive channel from the BSD/A 220.

Hereinafter, a processing procedure of the system according to theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7 will now be described.

First, a step (S300) of requesting related contents, a step (S310) ofsearching related contents and generating information, a step (S330) ofdelivering service information and attribute, and a step (S340) ofgenerating a service guide correspond to the steps S100, S110, S130, andS140 described above with reference to FIG. 4, respectively. In thiscase, however, there is no step corresponding to the step (S120) ofdelivering a related contents response in FIG. 4. A repeated descriptionof the steps will be omitted.

Next, the BSD/A 220 generates information related to the service guideand then transmits the information to the BSM 230 (S350). The BSM 350transmits a related contents response message including the informationto the terminal 100 (S352). The terminal 100 can obtain the serviceguide itself through the related contents response message or obtaininformation required for obtaining the service guide from the BSD/A 220.

Preferably, the information transmitted by the BSD/A 220 to the BSM 230may be the ServiceGuideDeliveryUnit including the generated serviceguide (S350). In this case, the terminal 100 can obtain all theinformation required for purchasing the particular content through therelated contents response message, so it does not need to receive aservice guide additionally.

Preferably, the information may be the ServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptorallowing for referring to the generated service guide in the BSD/A 220(S350). In this case, the related contents response message may includeonly the ServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor, not the service guide (S352).Thus, in order to obtain the required actual service guide, the terminalfurther includes a step (S354) of requesting the service guide from theBSD/A 220 by using the ServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor, and a step (S356)of receiving a service guide corresponding to theServiceGuideDeliveryDescriptor from the BSD/A 220. In order to allow forthe request and reception, the terminal 100 and the BSD/A 220 maycommunicate via an interactive channel.

Next, the follow-up steps S360, S370, S380, S390, and S395 correspond tothe steps S160, S170, S175, S180, S190, and S195 described above withreference to FIG. 4, respectively. Thus, a repeated description of thesteps will be omitted.

FIG. 8 is a signal flow chart illustrating a processing proceduregenerated is in the system according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

Compared with the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 has a feature that relatedcontents is selected based on a Web service. Namely, a system accordingto the present exemplary embodiment includes a Web server as anadditional element.

A processing procedure of the system according to the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 8 will now be described.

First, a step S400 of requesting related contents and a step (S410) ofsearching related contents and generating information correspond to thesteps S100 and S110 as described above with reference to FIG. 4,respectively Thus, a repeated description of the steps will be omitted.

Next, the BSM 230 creates a related contents response message. Therelated contents response message includes information required foraccessing the Web server and information required for the Web server toidentify the related contents.

Preferably, the information required for accessing the Web server may bea PortalURL, an address of the Web server, and the information requiredfor the Web server to identify the related contents may beglobalPurchaseItemID. In this case, the globalPurchaseItemID is anidentifier of the PurchaseItem.

The BSM 230 transmits the created related contents response message toto the terminal 100 (S420).

The terminal 100 accesses the Web server through the information in therelated contents response message and transmits identifiers (or IDs) ofthe related contents (S430).

Preferably, the accessing may be made through a Web browser, and the Webbrowser may designate the address of the Web server by using thePortalURL. Also, the terminal 100 may transmit the IDs of the relatedcontents to the Web server by using a method of filling theglobalPurchaseltemID in an HTTP Post request message.

The Web server generates related contents information based on therelated contents identifier and transmits the related contentsinformation to the terminal 100 so that the user can select the relatedcontents (S435).

Preferably, the information may be configured by a Web page, and thetransmission may be a Web page response to the request from the terminal100.

Next, the user of the terminal 100 selects content desired to bepurchased through the related contents information (S450), and theterminal 100 transmits information regarding the selection to the Webserver (S460).

The Web server identifiers the content selected by the user through theinformation regarding the selection.

After the identifying, the Web server transmits a service guideconnected with the selected content to the terminal 100, and theterminal 100 stores the received service guide (S462). Preferably, theservice guide may be transmitted through the ServiceGuideDeliveryUnit.

Also, after the identifying, the Web server transmits the informationregarding the selected content to the BSM 230 (S464).

And then, in order to allow the terminal 100 to receive an LTK (LongTerm Key) with respect to the selected content, the BSM 230 transmits aprovisioning trigger message to the terminal 100 (S466). Preferably, themessage may include a URL allowing for receiving of the LTK. Also,preferably, the transmission of the message may be made through an SMS(Short Message Service).

Upon receiving the provisioning trigger message, the terminal 100transmits an LTKM (Long Term Key Message) renewal (or update) requestmessage to the BSM 230 in order to obtain the LTK with respect to theselected content (S470). Preferably, the message may include thepurchaseItem of the selected content. Also, preferably, the message mayinclude msgID, namely, an identifier of the message, and device ID,namely, a device identifier.

Next, the step (S475) of delivering an LTKM renewal response will now bedescribed.

In response to the LTKM renewal request message received from theterminal 100, the BSM 230 generates an TLKM renewal response messageincluding an SEK and a PEK with respect to the content selected by theuser and transmits the message to the terminal 100 (S480).

Preferably, if the LTKM renewal request message does not correspond witha schema, the BSM 230 may return a transport protocol level error to theterminal and terminate the procedure.

Preferably, the LTKM renewal response message may include information asshown in Table 4 below:

TABLE 4 Information Meaning refToMsgID It is msgID of the LTKM renewalrequest message corresponding to the LTKM renewal response messageglobalStatusCode It indicates the state of the LTKM renewal responsemessage. In case of a valid LTKM renewal response, it has a successvalue, and when there is an error, it has an error value. The case wherethere is an error is as follows: 1) When the user does not have a useauthority to none of the selected contents. PurchaseItem It is generatedin the same manner as the PurchaseItem transmitted through the LTKMrenewal request message. Preferably, it can indicate a use authority ofthe user by using an ItemwiseStatusCode element. Namely, when the usercan use the selected content connected with the PurchaseItem, theitemwiseStatusCode has a success value, or otherwise, it has an errorvalue. Trigger It includes the SEK and the PEK

The terminal 100 receives the LTKM renewal response message (S475),extracts the SEK and the PEK with respect to the selected content in theLTKM renewal response message, and stores the same (S480). Preferably,the terminal 100 can extract the SEK and the PEK through a trigger inthe LTKM renewal response message.

Next, the follow-up steps S490 and S495 correspond to the steps S190 andS195 described above with reference to FIG. 4, respectively. Thus, arepeated description of the steps will be omitted.

Table 5 shown below describes a different exemplary embodiment withrespect to the related contents request message and parameters of themessage. The related contents request message allows the serviceprovider to recommend content related to the content the user isinterested in. The matters regarding the related contents requestmessage described in Table 5 may be combined with different exemplaryembodiments as described above and used.

TABLE 5 Name Description Related contents It is a related contentsrequest message for obtaining request (RelatedContent service guideinformation regarding content related to Request) the content the useris interested in. The message may include the following attribute: Arequest identifier (requested) The message may include the followingelements: A user identifier (UserID), a device identifier (DeviceID), abroadcast roaming specific part (BroadcastRoamingSpecificPart), and aglobal content identifier (GlobalContentID) Request identifier It is anidentifier of the related contents request (requested) message Useridentifier (UserID) It is a user identifier known to the BSM. In case ofa DRM (Digital Rights Management), this element is included. In case ofa smart card (Smartcard) profile, this element must be omitted, and useridentifying is provided through an HTTP digest authentication procedure.The element may include a type attribute, The type attribute specifies atype of the user identifier and may have values such as a user name,IMSI, URI, IMPI, MSISDN, MIN, and the like, following the RFC 2865document. Device identifier It is a unique device identifier known tothe BSM. (DeviceID) In a DRM profile, this element is included when thedevice supports IMEI or MEID. The device supporting the DRM profile doesnot allow the user to modify the device identifier. The element mayinclude a type attribute. The type attribute specifies the type of adevice identifier and may have a value such as IMEI (See 3GPP TS 23.00document), MEID (See 3GPP2 C.S0072 document), and the like. Broadcastroaming The element provides information that helps process specificpart the related contents request message.(BroadcastRoamingSpecificPart) When the BSM supports broadcast roaming,the BSM supports this element. When the terminal supports broadcastroaming, the terminal supports this element. Home BSM When a serviceprovisioning request is issued for a (HomeBSM) visited BSM, this elementindicates a home BSM of the terminal in a context of the request.Visited BSM When a service provisioning request is issued for a(VisitedBSM) home BSM, this element indicates a visited BSM from whichthe user wants to purchase a service. Global content identifier It is aglobally unique identifier of content, an interested (GlobalContentID)target. The terminal transmits this value to receive information relatedto the related contents.

Table 6 shown below describes different exemplary embodiment withrespect to the related contents response message and parameters of themessage. The related contents response message is used for the user torequest a service guide fragment for the related contents. The mattersregarding the related contents request message described in Table 6 maybe combined with different exemplary embodiments as described above andused.

TABLE 6 Name Description Related contents response It is a relatedcontents response message. (RelatedContentResponse) It may include thefollowing attributes: A request identifier (requested), a global statuscode (globalStatusCode), an expiration time (expirationTime) It mayinclude the following element: A purchase item (PurchaseItem) Requestidentifier It is an identifier of a corresponding related contents(RequestID) request message Global status code It follows a definedreturn code as a result of a (globalStatusCode) request Expiration timeThe purpose of the attribute is to inform the terminal (expirationTime)that a purchase item fragment received through provisioning of therelated contents response message is due to be up-to-date from a valueof at least current response time to a value of the expiration time. Ifthe expiration time exists, the terminal, which wants to track renewalof the received purchase item, cannot renew the request until when theexpiration time arrives unless there is further instruction. This fieldis expressed as a first 32-bit integer part of an NTP (Network TimeProtocol) time stamp. Purchase item It describes purchase relatedinformation regarding a (PurchaseItem) purchase item related to contentrequested in the related contents response message. This element canprovide one or more prices according to the currency of the purchaseitem. This element includes the global status code attribute, and if thevalue of the global status code is different from 0, this element shouldnot be instantiated. In other cases, the element should be instantiated.It allows inclusion of both instances of ‘PurchaseDataReference’ and‘PurchaseDataFragment’ in the same response. This element may includefollowing elements: PurchaseItemFragment, PurchaseDataReference,PurchaseDataFragment. Purchase item fragment It describes purchaserelated information including (PurchaseItemFragment) reference withrespect to a service or a content fragment. This element includes apurchase item fragment. Purchase data reference It describes a purchaserelated option available for (PurchaseDataReference) the user. Thiselement may include following attribute: identifier reference (idRef)This element may include following elements: price, SubcriptionPeriod,SubscriptionType, TermsOfUse. Identifier reference (idRef) It is anidentifier of the purchase data and is used to refer to purchase data ina subsequent service request message. Price It is price informationregarding a purchase item the user wants to know about. This element haspriority over a monetary price element of a referred purchase datafragment. This element may include following element: validTo, currencyValidTo It refers to a final time point at which the price informationis valid. If this element is not given, it is assumed that the priceinformation is valid until when a non-defined time point in the future.This field is expressed by a first 32-bit integer part of the NTP timestamp. The validity indicated by this element may be the same as orwithin the range of a fragment validity of a connected purchase datafragment. Currency It specifies a currency code defined in ISO(International Organization for Standardization) 4217 internationalcurrency code. Subscription period It specifies a subscription periodwith respect to an (SubscriptionPeriod) option indicated by the purchasedata. When the purchase item does not indicate a bundle of services,this subscription period should be returned. Or otherwise, it may beomitted. This element has priority over a purchase period element of areferred purchase data fragment. Start time (startTime) Time startattribute gives a start time point of the subscription period. Thisfield is expressed by a first 32-bit integer part of the NTP time stamp.Subscription type A value allowed as a subscription type includes the(SubscriptionType) following: one-time subscription, open-endedsubscription, a free trial subscription. A token-based mode defined inthe purchase data fragment cannot be signaled here. TermsOfUse It is anelement declaring that there is terms of use connected with a purchasedata fragment related to the related contents response and a parentpurchase item. It includes reference with respect to textualpresentation regarding the terms of use or reference with respect torepresentation through preview data, and includes information regardingwhether a user consent is required for the terms of use. Multipleoccurrences of the terms of use in the message is allowed. However, intwo certain such occurrences, values of country and language elementsshould not be the same concurrently. This element may include followingattributes: type, identifier (id), a user content required(userConsentRequired). This element may include following sub-elements:Country, language, preview data identifier reference (PreviewDataIDRef),text of terms of use (TermsOf UseText). Type It is a method for theterminal to interpret the terms of use. When the value of this elementis 0, it means that the terms of use should be indicated before purchaseor subscription. If there is terms of use whose type if 0, the terminalshould indicate the terms of use before initiating a request of purchaseor subscription related to a purchase item connected with the message.Identifier (id) It is a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) that solelyidentifies the terms of use. User consent required It indicates whetheror not a user consent is required (userConsentRequired) for such termsof use. When the element value is true, a user consent regarding suchterms of use in the subscription/purchase request message related to thepurchase item connected with the message is required. When the value isfalse, a user consent with respect to the terms of use is nor required.Country It is a list of countries to which the terms of use can beapplicable when consumption of the service is made in a certain country.Each value is a mobile country code according to an ITU-MCC. If thiselement is omitted, the terms of use can be applicable to a certaincountry. Language It is a language given to the terms of use. The valueof this element is a three character string in conformity with an ISO639-2 alpha standard for a language code. Preview data identifier Itrefers to the preview data fragment delivering reference representationof legal text. (PreviewDataIDRef) If this element does not exist, thetext element of terms of use should exist (implemented in XML schema byusing <choice>) Text of terms of use It is text of terms of use to beindicated. (TermsOfuseText) If this element does not exist, the previewdata identifier reference element should exist (implemented in XMLschema by using <choice>) Purchase data fragment It describes purchaserelated information including (PurchaseDataFragment) price informationand terms of use. This element includes a purchase data fragment.

A method of searching and downloading content using the related contentsrequest message described in Table 5 and the related contents responsemessage described in Table 6 will now be described.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating the procedure of an inquiry (orreference) of related contents using a related contents request messageand a related contents response message.

The related contents inquiry allows the service provider to offer arecommendation to the user according to a user preference. In thisrelationship, the expression of ‘one content and other content arerelated’ means that the two contents are similar in their substance orsubject matter. Also, the relation between the different contents may bedetermined by the service provider.

In order to request the content service, the terminal 100 transmits therelated contents request message to the BSM 230 (S500). The relatedcontents request message is transmitted to obtain a complete set ofservice guide information allowing the user to purchase an on-demandservice of content related to the content the user is interested in. Therelated contents request message may have the parameters as shown inTable 5 above.

Next, the BSM 230 transmits the related contents response message to theterminal 100 in order to provide the result of the related contentsrequest (S510). The related contents response message may have suchparameters as shown in Table 6 above. If there is content related to thecontent included in the request and the related contents is provided asan on-demand service, the BSM 230 includes a service guide fragmentprovision and transmits the related contents response message having thesuccess code of ‘000’ in the global status code. The service guide canprovide both an on-demand service of an individual content and anon-demand service of bundled contents.

When the global status code has the value ‘000’, the related contentsresponse must include one or more purchase item fragments and purchasedata fragments. If the terminal 100 does not have the service fragmentor the content fragment referred to by the purchase item fragment, theterminal 100 acquires the missing fragment (S520). The detail process ofacquiring a missing fragment has been described above in detail withreference to FIGS. 4, 6, 7, and 8. After acquiring the required serviceguide fragment, the terminal 100 starts a service request procedure byusing the information in the received purchase fragment (S530). Thematters related to the service request procedure have been describedabove in detail with reference to FIGS. 4, 6, 7, and 8. If the serviceprovider cannot find any related contents or when an on-demand servicefor discovered related contents cannot be provided, the BSM 230 includesan error code ‘22’ indicating that the on-demand service with respect tothe related contents cannot be provided to the user in the global statuscode, and transmits the related contents response message.

FIG. 10 illustrates the method of receiving a service guide by theterminal from the server according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

The terminal receives a service guide delivery descriptor (SGDD) 610 viaan SG (Service Guide) announcement channel 600. The service guidedelivery descriptor 610 includes a descriptor entry (or a descriptionentry) 620, and the descriptor entry indicates a service guide deliveryunit 640 in a service guide delivery channel 630. The SG channel may behourly SG channel 631, daily SG channel 632, and weekly SG channel 633.

And then, the terminal receives the service guide delivery unit 650 viathe is service guide delivery channel 630. The service guide deliverychannel 630 may be a broadcast channel or an interactive channel.

Each service guide delivery unit includes one or more service guidefragments 650. The terminal configures a service guide in the terminalby using the service guide fragment 650 existing in the service guidedelivery unit 640.

FIG. 11 is a signal flow chart illustrating in detail a procedure ofreceiving a service guide in the system according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. Compared with the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 6, the exemplary embodiment withreference to FIG. 11 illustrates in detail the process of receiving theservice guide before performing the step of requesting by the terminal100 related contents from the BSM 230. Also, the present exemplaryembodiment proposes a method of acquiring a missing fragment by theterminal 100 when the terminal 100 does not have a complete set of theservice guide fragments indicated in the related contents responsemessage for some reasons such as a network failure, a missing SGreception, or a memory shortage.

Hereinafter, a processing procedure of the system according to theexemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 11 will now be described.

First, the terminal 100 receives the service guide delivery descriptor610 via the service guide announcement channel 600 from the BSD/A 200.The service guide delivery descriptor 610 includes the descriptor entry620 that refers to the service guide delivery unit 640 to be transmittedto the terminal 100. After the reception, the terminal 100 tunes withthe SG notification channel to receive the service guide deliverydescriptor 610 corresponding to the terminal 100. The terminal 100determines the service guide delivery units 640 to be received by theterminal 100 through BSM selector information included in the serviceguide is delivery descriptor 610 (S600).

The step of receiving the service guide delivery unit 640 will now bedescribed (S610). The method of step S610 varies depending on whether ornot the service guide delivery channel 643 for delivery the serviceguide delivery unit 640 is a broadcast channel or an interactivechannel.

First, the service guide delivery unit 640 delivered via the serviceguide delivery channel 630, a broadcast channel, is processed asfollows.

The BSD/A 200 transmits the service guide delivery unit 640 to theterminal via the broadcast channel stated by the service guide deliverydescriptor 610. The service guide delivery unit 640 includes one or moreservice guide fragments. The service guide delivery descriptor 610received by the terminal 100 in the step S600 includes the descriptorentry 620, and the descriptor entry 620 includes information regarding abroadcast channel via which the service guide delivery unit 640 is beingtransmitted. According to the information regarding the broadcastchannel, the terminal turns with the broadcast channel to receive theservice guide delivery unit 640 (S610).

Meanwhile, the service guide delivery unit 640 delivered via the serviceguide delivery channel 630, an interactive channel, is processed asfollows.

The terminal 100 requests the service guide delivery unit 640 from theBSD/A 200 through SG entry point information included in the receivedservice guide delivery descriptor 610. The BSD/A 200 transmits aresponse to the request and the service guide delivery unit 640 to theterminal 100 (S610).

The following several steps S620, S630, and S640 correspond to the stepsS100, S110, and S130 described above with reference to FIG. 4,respectively. Thus, a repeated description of the steps will be omitted.

Next, when the BOAST service information and attributes are transmittedto the BSD/A 200, the BSD/A 200 stores service/content fragmentsreferred to by the purchase item fragment and every fragment having aconnection with the service/content fragments in the BSD/A 200 by usingidRef that refers to the service/content fragment existing in thepurchase item fragment received from the BSM 300 (S650). The storing isto make preparations in the occurrence of a request of the fragments.

The following step S660 corresponds to the step S220 described abovewith reference to FIG. 6. Thus, a repeated description of the step willbe omitted.

Here, in FIG. 11, the step of delivering the BOAST service informationand attribute and the step of recovering the service guide (S640 andS650) are performed before the step (S660) of transmitting the relatedcontents response. However, unlike the illustration, the step ofdelivering the BOAST service information and attribute and the step ofrecovering the service guide (S640 and S650) may be performed later thanthe step (S660) of transmitting the related contents response, or theboth may be performed simultaneously or in an overlapping manner.

The terminal 100 may not have a complete set of the service guidefragments indicated in the related contents response message for somereasons such as a network failure, a missing SG reception, or a memoryshortage. Thus, the terminal 100 searches a service matched within thestored service guide acquired through such a particular procedure as inthe different exemplary embodiments of the present invention describedabove for the identifier reference (idRef) of the service reference andcontent reference in the purchase item fragment.

Namely, when the terminal receives the related contents response, theterminal obtains the idRef by parsing the purchase item fragmentsexisting in the related contents response. The idRef is information thatrefers to the service/content fragments existing in the purchase itemfragments. The terminal 100 checks whether or not the service andcontent fragments referred to by the purchase item fragments are allstored in the terminal 100 by using the idRef (S670).

Upon checking, when there is a missing service and content fragments notstored in the terminal 100, namely, when the terminal 100 fails tosearch for any service or content fragment referred by the purchase itemfragment, the terminal 100 acquires the missing fragments through theparticular fragment as in the different exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention described above (S680). For example, the steps S250,S252, S254, and S256 described above with reference to FIG. 6 may be anexample of the particular procedure for obtaining the missing fragments.

Next, after acquiring the requested service fragments, the terminal 100initiates the service request procedure by using the informationexisting in the received purchase fragment (S690). For example, thesteps S260, S270, S275 S280, S290, and S295 described above withreference to FIG. 6 may be an example of the service request procedure.

The above-described process may be performed in the terminal 100 thatincludes a transceiver communicating with the server such as the BSM 230or the like and a controller for controlling the transceiver. Thetransceiver may transmit a content request message including anidentifier of particular content to the server, receive a contentresponse message including information regarding content related to theparticular content from the server, and receive an operation ofreceiving reception guide information of the related contents based onthe information.

The method according to the exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention described so far may be implemented by software, hardware ortheir combination. For example, the method according to the presentinvention may be stored in a storage medium (e.g., an internal memory, aflash memory of a mobile terminal, a hard disk, or the like), and may beimplemented by codes or command languages in a software program that canbe executed by a processor (e.g., an internal microprocessor of a mobileterminal).

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the characteristics thereof, it should also be understoodthat the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of thedetails of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, butrather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in theappended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fallwithin the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metesand bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for receiving content related to aparticular content, the method comprising: transmitting a contentrequest message including a content identifier of a particular contentto a server; receiving a content response message including a globalstate code and first information on at least one or more contentsrelated to the content identifier from the server, wherein if there areat least one or more contents related to a global content identifier,the global state code has a value indicating success; checking whetherthere exists second information in guide information referred to by thefirst information on the related contents; receiving the secondinformation if there is not the second information; and initiating aservice request procedure by using the guide information, wherein if thevalue of the global state code indicates success, the receiving ofsecond information and the initiating of the service request procedureare performed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content requestmessage is a related contents request message.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the content response message is a related contents responsemessage.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the global state code has thevalue indicating success, if the related contents are provided as anon-demand service.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the guideinformation is service guide information, and the first information onthe related contents is a provisioning service guide fragment withrespect to the related contents.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein theservice guide fragment is to provide an on-demand service of each of therelated contents and an on-demand service of a bundled content of therelated contents.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the provisioningservice guide fragment comprises one or more purchase item fragment,purchase channel fragment and purchase data fragment.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the second information is a fragment not stored in theterminal among a service fragment or a content fragment referred to bythe purchase item fragment.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein theservice fragment or the content fragment referred to by the purchaseitem fragment is a service or content fragment matched to each of aservice reference, a content reference and an identifier reference inthe purchase item fragment.
 10. A terminal for receiving content relatedto particular content, the terminal comprising: a transceiver configuredto communicate with a server; and a controller configured to control thetransceiver, wherein the transceiver transmits a content request messageincluding a content identifier of particular content to the server,receives a content response message including first information on atleast one or more contents related to the content identifier from theserver wherein the controller checks whether there exists secondinformation in guide information referred to by the first information onthe related contents, wherein the transceiver further receives thesecond information if there is not the second information, and initiatesa service request procedure by using the guide information wherein ifthere are at least one or more contents related to a global contentidentifier, the global state code has a value indicating success,wherein if the value of the global state code indicates success, thereceiving of second information and the initiating of the servicerequest procedure are performed.